


The Story of Hope, A Lady of Time

by Hope (threepointonefour)



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Hope, Other, Tenth Doctor Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-09-26
Updated: 2010-09-26
Packaged: 2017-10-12 05:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/121312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threepointonefour/pseuds/Hope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A teen looking for her memories bumps into a strange man called the Doctor, and finds out that she is really a Time Lord. Who is she, really, and what happens now when they are the only two left?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Befores and Afters, or, A Man and a Bus

Down the hallway, a light was switched off. Heavy footsteps echoed back down the long corridor, and a door closed softly. As soon as the door closed, a dark shaped slipped from her bed and onto the floor, careful not to make any noise. She grabbed a small rucksack concealed under the bed, slipped on her shoes, and carefully eased the window open. The screen was harder to get up silently, but in the end the shadow got it up. She carefully moved out onto the fire escape, and shimmied down the ladder, landing with a thump on the grimy alley floor. Freedom! Now that she was out, the shadow strode confidently out into the nightlife of New York City.

As the glare of sirens and billboards and neon hit her, any passerby could have easily seen the figure who had been a shadow moments ago. She looked like any other normal teenage girl, dressed in raggedy jeans, a red t-shirt, and a pilot's jacket. A small glimmer of a gold chain showed where a locket sat on her chest. Her short brown hair flared out at the end, giving her face a sharp look. She was slight and tall, making her look almost like a gymnast. And when she grinned, as the girl did when she approached the sidewalk, it lit up her whole face.

Her name was Hope. Hope was very, very glad to get out of the orphanage. It was surprisingly easy, actually - all Hope had to do was track the matron's movements for about seven weeks, then calculate the probability algorithms for future movements, then pick out of said algorithms the best time to sneak out without being caught with maximum time to fool around. Piece of cake.

Hope reviewed her mental map of downtown NYC. She had fifteen blocks of walking to go to reach her destination, seven lefts, four rights, and a stop at a hot dog stand.  The crosswalk turned GO, and she started walking, and thinking about her next move. Thinking was something she was very good at. But first...Hope stopped and looked up.

A year before, the orphanage she had happened to be at the time (the state of New York tended for some unknown reason to ferry her around a lot - she had been at four foster homes and eleven orphanages in the past nine years) had taken a field trip to a Pennsylvania dairy farm in the middle of nowhere. The cows weren't exciting, the sun was hot, and it smelled bad. However, when time came that night for the group to leave, Hope had glanced up at the sky. And stopped. Stars- so many stars, like diamonds of flaming plasma and hydrogen. They were so...beautiful! Every night after that, even if she could not see them, Hope would look up for a moment and look for the stars - the wonderful, wonderful stars.

Except she was in the middle of the street, and the headlights of the delivery truck were a bit more than stars.

"Watch out!" a pair of capable hands pulled her out of oncoming traffic and onto the sidewalk. "You should watch where you're going young miss!" The voice that belonged to the hands was a light tenor and had a British twang to it. Hope looked up at the man who had saved her.

And stopped.

Her whole body felt like it was quantum locked. Those eyes...a deep brown, so old and very young. _I know those eyes..._ The absolute familiarity was strange to Hope, so strange..."I know you" she said, her voice distant. It was like there was something she was trying to remember, something _really_ important just on the edge of knowledge, and her mind couldn't quite reach it. Slowly, ever so slowly, she began to take in the face that surrounded the eyes. First was his expression - astonishment, then horror, then delight, then staying at befuddled. He was very tall and very thin, with a sharp, handsome face and windswept hair. But..."I _know_ you." She said again. "I don't know how or where or when...but I do."

Suddenly, his hand on her arm tightened and he pulled her through the New York crowd. "Come on." Hope heard the strange man say as he pulled her through several dark alleys, emerging into the not so flattering light of a grimy diner. They entered, and Hope slid into a booth with cracked vinyl the color of dried blood. He slid in opposite of her. They just sat there for what seemed like ages, the girl staring at those strange eyes, the man staring just as intensely back. Then he said,

"Do you know who I am?"

Hope was startled for a moment, then, "I don't know. I _think_ so, but I can't remember how or where I met you. It's like I know, and it's on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't reach it!" She pounded the table with her fist in frustration.

The stranger (no, not strange. This man was never strange) leaned forward across the table "Do you trust me?"

"Absolutely," she replied at once, shocking herself. But it was true - She _did_ trust him, with all her heart. "Please, help me. What's your name?"

A tiny smile played at the corner of his lips, "I'm The Doctor."

" _Doctor_?" he nodded. "Just Doctor? _The_ Doctor?" she snorted "Well, it isn't like you don't think too much of yourself, is it? Not just _a_ doctor, you’re a Doctor with a big fat THE in front of it!"

He turned indignant "Well, what's your name then, miss I-don't-look-for-passing-cars?"

"Hope. Just Hope." She watched the Doctor intently for any signs of recognition, but at that moment, the server happened to saunter over to take their orders. Hope ordered a piece of cherry pie, the Doctor got banana bread. When the order came the Doctor spoke again through a mouthful of banana.

"So. Tell me Hope. What's a girl no older than seventeen doing wandering around New York City in the middle of the night?"

"I'm...looking. For a memory." she sighed, looked down at the whorls in the fake wood table "I don't...remember... anything from my past. I was found wandering near the world trade center on September 11th, with no identification and no idea who I am. Except my name, Hope. It's taken a while, but the state of New York has finally shuffled me back to an orphanage close enough to Ground Zero."

"So you're going to go there to try to trace your past?" she nodded.

"I made sure everything was the same, my shoes, my clothes, my hair style, everything."

"The same clothes? Wasn't September Eleventh nine years ago?" her eyes said _So?,_ so the Doctor let it go for the moment. "It must have taken some time to find a safe way to sneak out."

She shrugged, "Not really. All I needed to do was watch the nightly routine of the matron, run probability equations on deviations with given paths, and derive the accepted risk from that. Only took me a week to plan it, and I don't plan on going back, so the other girls won't need to tell on me. After all, I'm only the quiet new girl- what reason do they have to pay attention to me other to whisper behind my back?" Her voice ended on a bitter note that soured her expression like bad milk.

"Do the other girls pick on you?" His eyes were smoldering coals sometimes, she noted. Who was this man?

But her reply was still bitter, and her petite mouth turned down at the corners, "Why not? I'm smart enough to make them feel inferior, awkward enough to give them lease to whisper, and weak enough to haze. I'm the perfect target. But, after so many new homes, you learn to suppress what makes you so different. So _wrong_."

"There's nothing wrong with you! Two arms, two legs, all in the right place - helluva brain - what's not to like?" Why was this man, this Doctor, defending her? They only had just met, right? Hope’s instincts said otherwise.

They were quiet for what seemed like forever, the man and the girl. The server came over and Hope shoved a couple of bills in her hand. Abruptly, they both stood up and the Doctor made to go for the door. Once again, she had that bizarre feeling of déjà vu, that she had been in this situation before, that she knew this odd man. But how could that be? How could she know this man, have the faintest spark of memory, when for nine _years_ she hadn’t been able to recall anything else?

 

There was a railing, and two people were leaning on it. One was very tall, and one was not. The pair of strangers – for they had to be strangers – gazed out over the Upper Bay, at the boats and the lights of one of Earth’s most magnificent cities. From here, they could just see Ground Zero if they would turn around. But the smaller of the pair had already seen it, already searched its depths for some sort of clue of the vast mystery of her life – and had failed.

 

“So, what now?” asked The Doctor.

 

Hope’s voice was very small, “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll hop on a boat, see the world. Always wanted to do that. Travel the globe, make some new friends, see the sights – that kind of thing.”

 

The Doctor smiled, “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

 

“Nothing.” Pause. “What if I told you that I could help you find your memory? Well, not find it, in actuality. Just get it back. Retrieve it, that sort of thing.”

 

“ _You could do that? Why didn’t you say so?”_

 

He ignored the question, instead looking back out onto the harbor. When he spoke again, his voice was a million miles away, “This is probably going to sound quite mad to you, but I’m not exactly from around here.”

 

“I know”

 

“You- wha-what?” he spluttered.

 

“Yeah. You’re British.” Hope said simply.

 

“That’s not what I mean! I’m not…human. I’m from a race of people called Time Lords. And, if I’m right – and I usually am – you might be a Time Lord as well.”

 

Hope made a little _O_ sound, then said very slowly “I guess…that makes…sense…”

 

“Did you just _accept_ me telling you I was an alien and you might be one too? Great Schism, you must be crazy or-“

 

“Well, it’s kind of obvious, Doctor. You’re a bit too… _interesting_ to be human.” He frowned, “and I’ve been different as long as I can remember.”

 

He changed the subject, looking directly into her eyes, said, “Do you have anything that’s been with you as long as you can remember, something that you’ve never really looked at closely until now, and that can open and close like a locket or a fob watch?” The Doctor looked at her neck, where he caught a glimpse of gold hanging from her neck. She followed his eyes.

 

“What, this?” she fumbled with a clasp at her neck, and removed her necklace – a small, heart shaped gold locket. There were intricate circular designs on the front, and the back was inscribed in tiny lettering, the name _Hope_. The Doctor took it from her hand, examining it closely; but he didn’t open it.

 

“Thought so.” He handed it back to her. “A younger model than my own, of course, but still a Chameleon Arch.”

 

“A what?”

 

“It allows the user to pass as another species, to become someone else. For a little while, at least.” Hope was beginning to realize what he was saying, “It can also hide memories away, contain them in a very small package and use a perception filter to make sure no one realizes what it truly is.”

 

“I’m an alien, aren’t I?”

 

Both of his hands lightly rested on her shoulders, “No, not right now. Well, yes, but no. Ever notice that even though nine years has passed, you can still wear the same pair of clothing? Of course not, that’s the perception filter.

 

“That Chameleon Arch, that little thing, is who you were. It is every memory you had and the complete makeup of your DNA. It is, Hope, _you._ The Time Lord you.”

 

Her eyes widened in surprise, and a little bit fear, “What will happen if I open that? Will I become who I, who _she_ was, the other Hope? The Time Lord one? What happens to _me_?”

 

“You’ll still be you, just different. A bit older and a bit smarter, but the human part of you will still be in there.”

 

“I’ll just be a memory?” Hope turned away from him. She was silent for a very long time, and then she whispered, “What will it be like?”

 

“Easy. Just like breathing, except when you breathe in you’ll be different. You don’t have to do this, you know that? No one is forcing you.”

 

But he didn’t understand. To not know who you are, to know that you were different and not understand why, that was pure torture. And now – the answer was right in front of her, right there, how could she not take it? Then again, who was this other Hope, this new person she could be? But…There was the feeling. The feeling she’d had her whole life, that there was something missing, a memory that she had to remember but couldn’t. It was like having a word on the tip of her tongue – except this was her life, not just a word. There was an interesting thought; if her life could be a word, what word would it be?

 

She made a decision.

 

With shaking hands, Hope opened the tiny locket and looked inside.


	2. Remember Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventures begin and memories return.

A teen looking for her memories bumps into a strange man called the Doctor, and finds out that she is really a Time Lord. Who is she, really, and what happens now when they are the only two left?

 

 

“Well, this is a change…” said Hope as she regained the feeling in her fourteenth and twenty-fourth senses. Two immediate things had occurred to her when her full consciousness had been awakened:

 

One, two hearts. It wasn’t so much that the awareness that she _had_ two hearts was odd; it was the utter familiarity of them. There was something profound and comforting about the _ba-ba-ba-bump­_ of her twin heartbeats. Sort of like home, if that made any sense at all.

 

Two: Time. She could feel it, pulsing and pounding around her, a big ball of wibbly wobbly stuff around her. Oh and the possibilities! So many branching timelines and probabilities swarmed around her brain, each one vying for immediate attention. She attempted to shove that into one of the pockets of her consciousness and opened her eyes.

 

She was in a round room. Hold on…a round room that had a very complex piece of machinery in the center of it. Wait, a window to Time Itself was in that machine! That’s when Hope realized that _of course_ she was also inside that machine, and it was called a TARDIS. Then the conundrum of _how_ she came to be inside a TARDIS in the first place. As she shakily got to her feet, that question was answered for her by the man walking into the room.

 

“Oh good, you’re up. Give me a hand with these?” ‘These’ were the heaping armfuls of tubing and wire he was attempting to carry. She strolled over and took some from his arms. Suddenly, a staggering amount of data and memory rushed into her mind, and rubber tubing spilled everywhere as she dropped her arms.

 

“Wait. You’re the Doctor!”

 

“Yes…yes I am.” He said slowly, “Do you remember me?”

 

Hope scowled, “Nnnot, no. But I remember hearing about you!” she grabbed his shoulders, causing more tubing and wire to fall onto the floor, “What happened to the Time Lords? How does the War end? Is Rassilon still in power?”

 

He shrugged her off, instead choosing to collapse onto what looked like an old car seat. “You aren’t going to like it.” He said, staring at the central console. With that, something seemed to click within her.

 

Hope had graduated third in her class, she remembered. Her specialty had been psychics and empathetical awareness. She remembered her graduation day. She remembered her TARDIS. She remembered…the War. The Time War. The War where everyone was drafted into the Army of Gallifrey, whether they liked it or not. In fact, if you protested, you were sent into the front lines – the places where you died and died again as time reset itself and never changed or regenerated. The birthplace of such monstrosities as the Nightmare Child and the Eternal Cult. And…she remembered it…she was there. She was in the endless fire and pain, was there when Davros met his final demise, was there to see her fellow soldiers die and die and die again.

 

A flashback: She was chained in a low, dark, dank room. Hope’s wrists were rubbed raw from the manacles, her body breaking out in blooms of colorful bruises where they had beaten her. A trickle of something warm dripped down her forehead and into her eyes – most likely blood. Her eyes flicked down, and saw her own emaciated body and broken limbs. Light burst into the cell as a door slid open from the wall, and a figure hovered into her view. “IS THE PRISONER READY TO BE COMPLIANT?” It screamed with its shrill, terrible cadence as it moved forward, threatening her with its one blaster…

 

“No…no…no…” Hope realized that she was crouched on the ground in the fetal position, rocking slowly back and forth, her hands covering her ears. Wiry arms encircled her, holding her tenderly. Tears streaked down her face as she _remembered_ everything. She hated it, hated how she could break under a storm like this instead of bending in the wind. And she hated letting the Doctor see her like this (which was irrational, right? Didn’t she just meet him?). Eventually Hope quieted, and raised her face to see him. His dark eyes radiated pain. “They’re all dead, aren’t they?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I can’t feel them anymore, their minds. And how could they not be dead? After all that’s happened…All that life, all those brilliant sparks…I can‘t feel them. Except you.”

 

“Oh woe is me. To have seen the things I have seen, see what I see.” He murmured.

 

The Doctor helped her back up, and wiped her tears with the back of his sleeve. “The change from human to Lady of Time was a bit more jarring than normal. The flashbacks should be over for now, but the memory return will be a bit more…gradual. What _you_ need is time. And food.” He took her hand and pulled her into one of the TARDIS’ many corridors, “Lots of food.”

 

He led her into a random room - which, luckily, happened to also be a kitchen - and started opening cabinets. “Ah-hah!” he said and pulled out a long yellow object. He plopped it in front of her.

 

“A banana?” She said, “That’s your magic cure?” He grinned, but she peeled and ate it anyway. When she was done, she asked, “So what now?”

 

“Well, I was wondering…if you have the time, if you would like to travel with me…?” His freakishly long legs were now propped up on the table now. She smiled.

 

“You know, I don’t think I have any plans. Perhaps I could fit you in.”

 

And that is how the last Time Lord and Time Lady met, and how the Doctor chose her as a companion to travel with. Thus begins their adventures…

**Author's Note:**

> This is only the first in a ridiculously long tale, which, of course, makes perfect sense once you consider all that can happen in Time. More chapters will come soon, as they are written and edited. Also, Hope is a character of my own invention, so no stealing please!


End file.
